Ardleigh Green’s faint hopes of survival in Essex League Division One were kept alive with an exciting 11-run victory over promotion-chasing Hutton at Central Park.

A 111-run partnership between Alex Cason (90) and skipper Chris Cook (35) helped Green reach 192 from 43.2 overs and when Inam Rehman caught Hutton’s dangerous opener Hanuma Vihari Gade off his own bowling for just 12, Green had the platform to record only their second league win of the season.

Rehman (4-32) and James Duhig (3-20) impressed with the ball as Green closed the gap to safety to 59 points with five games remaining.

“It was a good team performance and me and Alex put on 111 for the second wicket,” said Cook.

“That was a good partnership and we would have liked more from where we started, but we just fell away a little bit at the end. We made it up with the bowling really.”

The removal of Vihari Gade – who played for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League last season – proved telling and despite a middle order rally by Hutton, Green held on for the win as Cook (2-48) nabbed a late brace.

“We got Vihari Gade, who’s a good player, so it was a good couple of early wickets to get the ball rolling,” added Cook.

“They [Duhig and Rehman] have been bowling well for the past couple of weeks and they just clicked together for once, rather than one doing it one week and another doing the other.”

Attention now turns to Green’s trip to Southend tomorrow (Saturday), where defeat could all but signal relegation for Cook’s men.

The reverse fixture was abandoned in May with Green on 73 from 18.2 overs so a repeat of that performance, which saw Cason hit a unbeaten 47 before play was called to a halt, would keep the dream of survival alive.

Cook added: “We didn’t really have chance to have a go at them last time around, but we’ll have another go. We’ve got the same team so we’ll take it from there and see what happens.”

With the threat of relegation looming, Cook is aware of the pressure on his side, but he refused to be drawn on whether survival was a possibility.

“Hopefully. All we can do is try and win our games and see what happens really,” he added.

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